under the tinTerminal Boardom And yet, in some quarters, SSC is derided for allowing us to be relegated from the Prem. Why were we relegated? Because SJM knew that serious money needed to be invested and he refused to allow the squad to be strengthened. As I have said elsewhere, SJM hates the thought of people he considers socially below him having the ability to drive a flash motor!
I'm not as strident as some in my criticisms of our chairman.
At the end of the day, I know I owe a debt of gratitude to him (and Mr. Tranter, RIP) for saving my beloved team from oblivion.
What irks me are those who spend their lives on here licking his @rse. He may be a successful businessman, but he didn't part the Red Sea.
He, like all humans whose 5hit stinks, makes mistakes, and what worries me is seeing the same mistakes repeated.
My arguement, all through this thread, has been about not what is, but what could be.
You reckon that the reason why we were relegated was because of lack of investment. I agree, but only in part.
In my view, the signing of new players to strenghten the club's assets not only sends out a declaration of intent to the fans, it also, CRUCIALLY, sends the same message to the existing playing staff. In the "Prem years", all we had was our chairman moaning about extortionate players' wages, and our need to live within our means. This changes the playing field. From being a "club that's going in the right direction"-Shorey, it's a club that's treading water.
Let's be silly now. Had we signed Franco Baresi, do you think that might have possibly influenced Sidwell/Shoreys decision to leave a club that they considered would not further their professional ambitions?
Ok, it's a silly example, but the noises coming out from the club nowadays suggest much the same kind of vibe, at a lower (champ), level. How long will our better players want to tread water here? (I include our better academy lads) Take away our better players, and we are back where JM came in.
That, in my view, is a waste. Great big stadium. Iddy Biddy team.
People criticise Madejski for saying he wants to go up. But I don't know what else he could say. You cannot really say "we want to be a mid-table club", because that is not a motivation to anyone. And it is also an odd ambition. There a very few teams who finish each season in a mid-table position having never been in contention for the playoffs or in danger of relegation. The nature of football is that you try to win every game and let that take you where it will. If a club really did set out to be a mid-table club, it would probably be in constant fear of relegation; and we don't want that. That's what would happen if you sold a Sigurdsson every time you had one. In the end, you'd go down.
The model I like is West Brom's. They plan their finances as a yo-yo club. I think Madejski wanted to do that but found it too complex.